1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to advertising on an information retrieval system. In particular, the present invention relates to systems and methods of selecting advertisements and displaying the selected advertisements on an information retrieval system based at least in part on the television viewing habits of the recipient of the advertisements.
2. The Prior State of the Art
The Internet, and particularly the World Wide Web (“Web”), has experienced tremendous growth during recent years. The Web allows users to retrieve and access text, graphics, audio, video, and other information from remote servers. The Web has become a valuable source of news, educational resources, commercial information, entertainment, and the like. Many, if not most, Web sites are accessible by users free of charge. Other sites are made available to users for a small fee. Many Web sites subsidize part or all of the cost of maintaining a server, posting information in Web pages, etc. by selling and distributing advertisements embedded in Web pages.
As in other advertising applications, it has been found that advertisements in Web pages are most effective if they can be tailored and directed to segments of the population that are likely to be interested in the advertised goods and services. Because of the interactive nature of the Internet and the ability to easily insert graphical images in Web pages, there have been developed several methods of targeting Internet advertisements to specific users or specific groups of users.
One of the simplest methods of tailoring Internet advertisements to recipients is similar to techniques used in television, radio and other media. In particular, advertisements are selected to correspond to the subject matter of the Web page or other Internet resource. It is assumed that users who actively retrieve Internet resources dealing with a certain topic are more likely than the population at large to be receptive to advertisements directed to the topic. For example, if a Web site relates to travel information, advertisers and Web site providers can generally assume that users accessing the Web site will have a heightened interest in travel-related advertisements.
Advertisements are particularly attractive in the Internet environment for several additional reasons. First, Internet users are typically actively and attentively taking in information when they access Internet resources. Such users may be more receptive to messages delivered by advertisers than persons engaged in other activities. Second, because of the interactive nature of the Internet, recipients of advertising may choose to receive a small amount or a relatively large amount of information on the advertised goods or services. For example, a typical Internet advertisement may consist of a banner box or another graphical image identifying the goods or services or presenting a concise advertising message. Moreover, the graphical image is frequently an active link that may be selected by the user in order to access a Web site specifically dedicated to the advertised goods or services. Accordingly, interested recipients may easily retrieve additional information relating to advertiser's message, while disinterested recipients are not inconvenienced by too much unwanted information. The multimedia aspect of the Internet also allows advertisers to present their messages in new and interesting ways.
In addition to basing advertisement selection on the subject matter of Web sites, advertisers have also been able to learn of some preferences and habits of recipients in order to more effectively tailor advertisements. Many Web sites download “cookies” to users' computers when users access the Web sites. Cookies are files installed and stored on the hard disk of client computers and are used to report information relating to the client computer to Web site content providers. In one example, a cookie may merely be an identifier that transmits a user password or other identifying information each time the user returns to the Web site, thereby eliminating the need for the user to remember and enter the password. In another example, however, cookies can be used to track and report the user's Internet habits, giving content providers and advertisers insight into the possible interests of the user, and allowing advertisements to be tailored accordingly.
Services that automatically provide news and other information to recipients over the Internet have also become common. For example, there are many e-mail services and other Internet-based systems that periodically send messages or other information documents relating to specific topics to interested persons. Generally, such services provide information to recipients who have placed their names in a subscriber list. There is typically no attempt to individually tailor the information sent to the subscribers based on the subscribers' particular preferences other than perhaps an interest survey submitted by the subscribers.
In view of the foregoing, advertising techniques adapted from other media have been widely used to tailor advertisements to broad segments of the Internet-using population. Furthermore, interactive techniques, such as those involving “cookies”, allow advertisers to learn of some of the recipient's habits as they relate to browsing Internet and otherwise using the recipient's computer. While such information increases the efficiency by which advertisers may target specific recipients, any further source of information relating to individual habits and preferences would be a valuable improvement in the Internet advertising industry.
From the standpoint of the advertiser, any increase in the ability to narrowly target recipients would make advertising on the Internet more attractive. Internet content providers would also favor advancements in advertising effectiveness, since they would then collect more advertising fees from advertisers. Finally, the Internet-using public benefits from being more effectively targeted in at least two ways. First, advertising recipients would be more likely to receive advertising information that is of interest and value. Second, a greater number and variety of Internet sites are likely to be profitable using improved advertising techniques, thereby making more no-cost and low-cost Internet sites available to the public.